Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
This invention relates to a process and an apparatus
for the production of soluble instant coffee in powder
form.
501uble coffee powder is conventionally produced by
freeze-dryin~ or spray-drying after evaporation of a coffee
extract obtained by the percolation of an extraction liquid
through cells filled with ground roasted coffee (Sivetz,
Coffee Processing Technology, Volume 1, pages 262, 263,
AVI, 1963).
Extraction is carried out in countercurrent, i.e. the
water under pressure at a temperature of 150 to 180C is
introduced into the cell containing the batch of ground
roasted coffee which h~s been most intensively extracted
(having undergone N extractions) at the bottom of that
cell. The liquid extract of this extraction cell is then
passed through the extraction cell containing the batch of
coffee which has been extracted (N-l) times and so on until
the liquid extract passes through the cell which has just
been filled with fresh ground roasted coffee.
The final extract leaves this last cell at a temper-
ature the order of 100C.
The most intensively extracted coffee ls thus sub-
jected to the highest temperature while the fresh coffee is
subjected to the lowest temperature.
A distinction is normally drawn between the hot cells,
which contain the most intensively extracted coffee, and
the cold cells which contain the least intensively ex-
tracted coffee.
After each extraction cycle, the cell containing the
most intensively extracted coffee is emptied, filled with
fresh coffee and, after the cells have been suitably inter-
connected, another extraction cycle begins.
Although the final extract obtained at the exit of the
~3~
extraction cell containing the freshest coffee contains
only a small quantity of ground coffee particles, fines
always being entrained, it is necessary to filter the
extract.
Finally, after the filtration phase which eliminates
the particles larger than about 1 mm in size, solids, such
as polysaccharides or proteins, are still present in
suspension and have to be eliminated to enable a co~fee
powder which dissolves perfectly without any solids appear-
ing in the cup to be obtained after concentration and
freeze~drying or spray-drying of the extract.
The suspended solids are normally eliminated by
centrifugation, the sediment obtained then being decanted,
the supernatant decantation liquid being reintroduced into
the final filtered extract while the solid residue obtained
is eliminated.
The main disadvantage of this process is that it
produces a sediment which has to be retreated by decant-
ation and which is not easy to handle.
In addition, the suspended solids cannot always be
satisfactorily eliminated by centrifugation.
Accordingly, the problem addressed by the present
invention was to provide a process for the production of
instant soluble coffee powder in which extraction of the
coffee in the liquid phase would enable the content of
insoluble solids in the final extract to be reduced.
Accordingly, the present invention relates in par-
ticular to a process for the production of soluble instant
coffee powder in which an extraction liquid is percolated
through cells filled with ground roasted coffee, the final
liquid extract then being converted into powder form,
characterized in that, after the hot cells containing the
most intensively extracted coffee, the rate of percolation
of the liquid extract through the extraction cells is
reduced.
f II '; if ~
.
By virtue of this reduction in the rate of percolation
through the extraction cells, the cells act as filters
which, by retaining the suspended solids, enable a final
extract having a greatly reduced in~oluble fraction in
relation to the prior art to be obtained.
The present invention also relates to a process of the
type described above in which, after reduction of the
percolation rate, the percolation flow is regulated to
achieve the desired extraction downstrPam of the cells
where the reduction is effected.
The present invention also relates to an apparatus for
carrying out the process described above in which, after
the hot cells containing the most intensively extracted
coffee, means are provided to reduce the percolation rate
in at least one cell downstream of the said hot cells.
The present invention also relates to an apparatus of
the type described above in which, after at least one cell
where the percolation rate has been reduced, means are
provided to regulate the percolation flow in the cells
containing the freshest roasted coffee as a function of the
desired extraction levelO
Qther features and advantages of the inv~ntion will
become apparent from the following description in conjunc-
tion with the accompanying drawing which is provided purely
by way of example and which diagrammatically illustrates an
apparatus for carrying out the process according to the
invention.
As can be sean from the drawing, an apparatus for the
extraction of coffee may be made up of several extraction
cells operating in saries, each of which is formed by a
column of which the lower part is connected to the upper
part of the preceding column and of which the upper part is
connected to the lower part of the following column.
Generally, an extraction apparatus is made up of four
to eight extraction cells and, preferably, six extraction
cells.
Cell 1 contains the most intensively extracted coffee
whiie cell 6 contains the least intensively extracted
coffee, the level of extraction decreasing from cell 1 to
cell 6.
The extraction liquid, which may consist of water
under pressure at a temperature of 150C to 180~C, is
introduced at the bottom of cell 1, passes upwards through
that cell, taking up soluble product in the process, laaves
at the upper end of cell 1 and passes successively through
each of the cells up to and including cell 6 which is the
last cell and which contains fresh ground roasted coffee.
Accordingly, the final extract issues from cell 6 and
is subsequently filtered and, optionally, centrifuged and
then evaporated and finally converted into powder form by
freeze-drying or spray-drying.
The crucial parameter to be taken into account for
understanding the invention lies in the rate of percolation
of the liquid extract through an extraction cell.
This percolation rate should be understood as the
ratio between the flow of liquid extract, expressed for
example in litres per minute, and the cross-section of the
extraction cell, the value obtained being dimensionally
comparable with a velocity.
Accordingly, it will be understood that, for the same
flow, a percolation rate can vary considerably from one
extraction cell to another if the cross-sections of those
cells are different. On the other hand, i~ the cross
sections of all the extraction cells are identical, the
percolation rate as defined above is unambiguously rel~ted
to the flow.
Now, in an installation for the liquid-phase extrac-
tion of coffee by percolation through extraction cells, all
the cells being intended successively to occupy all the
places of an extraction cycle, they all have the same
geometry and, hence, particularly the same cross-section.
Thus, any reduction or increase in flow will recipro~
cally produce a reduction or increase in the percolation
rate.
In the following description of the present invention,
the percolation rates are expressed in centimetres per
minute and the flows in litres per minute. Conventionally,
the rate of percolation of the liquid extract through the
extraction cells is between 12 cm/min. and 15 cm/min.
In the process according to the invention, the per-
colation rate is reduced after the hot cells, the liquid
extract issuing at a temperature above 140C. By virtue of
this reduction in the percolation rate after the hot cells,
there is a distinct reduction in the insoluble fraction in
the final extract~ Nevertheless, it appears that, if the
percolation rate is excessively reduced after the hot
cells, the flow of the liquid extract falls to an inade-
quate level in the extraction cells, adversely affecting
the degree of extraction which can thus become inadequate
in an industrial process where all the cells are identical.
To overcome this drawback, it can be of advantage to
regulate the flow of the liquid extract as a function of
the desired degree of extraction measured in the final
extract after the rate of percolation in one or more
extraction cells has been reduced downstream of the hot
cells.
If all the cells have the same cross-section, there
will be an increase in the percolation rate in the cells
downstream of those cells where the percolation rate has
been reduced. However, this increase in the percolation
rata should not be compared in any way with the previous
reduction in the percolatisn rate.
This is because, although it is advisable to reduce
the percolation rate after the hot cells to obtain a
reduction in the insoluble fraction in the final extract,
h ~ Y~ `~3 i~
=
the reduction in flow being only one of a number of ways of
achieving this result, the extraction level in the extrac-
tion cells is dependent inter alia on the ratio between the
volume of percolating liquid and the mass of roasted
coffee, irrespective of how the coffee is arranged, i.e. in
a thin bed of wide-cross-section or in a thick column of
narrow cross-section.
Thus, since an extraction cycle has a predetermined
duration, the volume of percolating liquid is determined by
the flow rate and not by the percolation rate.
The following numerical Examples illustrate the
process according to the invention and demonstrate the
importance of the parameters selected.
In a conventional installation for the liquid-phase
extraction of coffee, the percolation rate in the extrac-
tion cells is of the order of 15 cm/minute, the insoluble
fraction in the final extract being capable of reaching
3.3~ and more.
The following Table, which relates to an installation
comprising two hot cells, two intermediate cells where the
percolation rate is reduced and two cold cells where the
flow rate is regulated, regulation being ef~ected in fact
by an increase in the percolation rate, all the cells
having the same-cross-section, demonstxates the development
of the insoluble fraction in the final extract as a func-
tion of the percolation rate in the intermediate cells.
.4 ~ .i 3
Percolation rate in the Insoluble fraction in
intermediate cells the final extract
cm/min. %
15.0 3-3
13.6 2.9
12.9 2.8
10.3 1.4
9.6 0.8
9.1 0.4
It can thus be seen that, for a percolation rate of lo
cm/min., the insoluble fraction is of the order of 1.2~,
which is advantageous, as will be seen hereinafter.
In addition, the following Table illustrates the
effect of the number of intermediate cells on the insoluble
fraction in the final extract, the installation comprising
two hot cells upstream and two cold cells downstream where
the percolation rate is increased.
Number of intermediate Insoluble fraction in
cells the final extract
%
4 0.
3 0.7
2 1.2
1 2.1
Finally, the following Table demonstrates the effect
of the flow rate in the cold cells on the extraction level
measured in the final extract.
Test 1 Test 2
Temperature in the 180C 180C
hot cells
Flow rate in the 24.8 l/min. 24.7 l/min.
hot cells
Flow rate in the 33.0 l/min. 31.5 l/min.
cold cells
Temperature in the
cold cells 105C 105C
Extraction level measured 42.7% 40.4%
in the final extract
It can thus clearly be seen that, all things otherwise
being equal, the extraction level is a ~unction of the flow
rate in the cold cells.
Without wishing to be limited to any one explanation
of the phenomenon observed, it appears that the reduction
in the insoluble fraction in ths final extract is attribut-
able to the fact that, as thP percolation rate decreases at
least in the intermediate cells, the intermediate cells act
as filters which retain the suspended solids entrained from
the hot cells.
The solids retained in these intermPdiate cells would
then either be hydrolyzed when the intermediate cells have
become the hot cells or simply removed when the grounds
contained in the most intensively extracted hot cell are
eliminated.
This filtration effect can be demonstrated by cal-
culating the extraction level achieved in each cell.
Thus, for the intermediate cells, it has been found
that the extraction level can be negative which clearly
shows that solids pressnt in the extract before passage
through the intermediate cells are no longer present at the
exit of those cells and have therefore been retained in the
bed of coffee.
The following Table illustrates this phenomenon for an
installation comprising six cells, including two inter-
mediate cells.
Number ofExtraction level achieved
cellsin the cell (%)
6 11.83
5.83
4 -8.45
3 -2.06
2 12.39
1 18.57
To carry out the process according to the invention in
the preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying
drawing, means 7 are provided after two hot cells 1, 2 to
reduce the percolation rate in at least one cell 3 after
the last hot cell 2.
The means 7 may consist of an evaporator 7 which, by
reducing the volume of the liquid extract issuing from the
cell 2 and intended to p~rcolate through the cell 3, will
produce a reduction in the flow rate and hence in the
percolation rate in the cell 3.
To prevent the extraction level achieved in the cells
containing the freshest coffee from being overly penalized
by this reduction in the percolation rate and hence in the
flow rate, a device 8 for increasing the flow rate in the
following cells is arranged betwePn two successive extrac-
tion cells, for axample between the cells 4 and 5, down-
stream of the cell 3.
The device 8 may be formed by an additional inlet for
extraction liquidr for example hot water, which, added to
the liquid extract coming from the cell 4, thus increases
the volume of liquid percolating through the cells 5 and 6.
The use of a hot water inlet also enables the temperature
to be regulated.
By virtue of the process and apparatus according to
the invention, it is thus possible readily to obtain a
final extract at the exit of the cell 6 - containing the
freshest roasted coffee - which has an insoluble fraction
of less than 1.2%.
Now, various tests have shown that, for a final
extract having an insoluble fraction of less than 1.2%, a
single filtration step with no subsequent centrifugation is
sufficient to obtain a juice from which an instant coffee
powder dissolving in hot water without the appearance of
any suspended solids can be obtained after evaporation
followed by spray-drying or freeze-drying .
